Report from Haiti trip, Our Commissioning and...Fire!

 Hello Friends!

 This past month has been FULL for our family! Last I up-dated we were enjoying being in Hobe Sound getting re-aquainted with our many friends there and loving the warm, ocean breezes and the sunshine :o)

 The last week of January, a team of 6 men flew to our compound to work on our mission house in Grande Rivierre du Nord. The men who went were Danny, Frank Vaughn, Rob Loper, Joe Hurst, Matt Hirschy and Josh Capps. God put together a great team as they all did a wonderful job using their skills to get the roof on while they were there. They enjoyed intereacting with the children there in the compound and Danny was able to hand out some of the fun glow sticks, Hot Wheels and etc that we have had donated. A HUGE thank-you to Frankfort Bible Holiness Jr. Church and Living Water United for collecting these great items! You helped bring huge smiles to the children's faces!

   The men got to go up to the Citadel and took some beautiful pictures. We used a picture of the Citadel on our new prayer card :o) And God answered a prayer request of our families that we have been personally praying about! We have been looking for a bathtub for our house in Haiti and have not been having much success. We were told that none of the businesses in Cape Haitian carried bathtubs and shipping one in was going to be costly. Our family feels that due to my bad back issues and the younger ones not caring for a shower all the time that a bathtub is vital. We took this need to our Heavenly Father and He agreed that we needed one also! On the team's last day as they were driving to the airport in Cape Haitian, they stopped by a business to check on some other building materials and found out that this guy NOW CARRIES BATHTUBS!! The cost will be around $250 to purchase one from him and we know God will supply the money to buy it since He provided it for us :o) When Danny came home and shared this with us, we were so happy and thankful and thanked Jesus for answering this prayer request for our family! What a great faith builder for our children!

    We were so happy to have our husband and daddy safely back from Haiti as we missed him very much! A sweet, generous young lady who graduated last year when Danny did and has become a good friend of our families, offered to watch our younger children so Danny and I could have a date night :o) And we spent some time together as a family too :o) We enjoyed being there for the entire 2 week Seabreeze Campmeeting. Bro. Stetler and Bro. Mark Sankey preached good, spirit-filled messages that had altars lined in the evening services. Rebecca enjoyed being back with her friends and participating in all the fun youth activities and the other three loved the children's services with Sister Christina Black and Roanna, who do a great job!

  February 12th was Missions Day and a very special day for our family. In the am service, Danny spoke briefly about going to Haiti and the children sang the song that they have wrote about us going to Haiti as missionaries. Then in the evening service, Bro. Reiff was able to raise over $30,000 for missions in a very unique way! It was exciting to watch how God worked and be a part of it all! Right after that, our family, along with the Rob Loper family was called forward and commissioned. The Lopers to Grand Turk and us to Haiti. It was very special as we had known this moment was coming and yet it had seemed so far off. We have been following God's footsteps, waiting on His timing and going through doors as He has opened them and our commissioning was just one more step closer to moving to Haiti :o) We are very excited and ready to go! If you missed the service and would like to see it you can go to www.hobesoundbiblechurch.com and find the Feb 12th service in their archives.

   After camp ended we went up to Pensacola, FL and enjoyed 4 days with Danny's parents, visiting and relaxing. We went to the Pensacola Air Museum, took the kids to fly kites at a park and celebrated Ben's 11th birthday that was on the 14th during camp.( We had a very small birthday party for him one night after church at camp with his friends.) His grandparents wanted to have a little party for him too so they bought him a cake and let him pick out some Hot Wheels and we had a fun little celebration one night. 

 

 

      We had a Godthing that happened while we were at the park flying kites. I was doing a headcount of our kids making sure I knew where they all were and  I did not notice a spot where the cement had a small incline. Next thing I knew I was on the hard concrete on my hands and knees. I scraped and bloodied up my knees and palms of my hands where I had tried to catch myself. I was embarrassed and my knees and palms were stinging so I sat there on the ground for a few seconds when I heard someone ask if I was ok. Realizing I had been seen, I answered that I was. A group of moms were sitting nearby while their children played and they offered some water to pour on my stinging palms and knees. Then one of the ladies said she had a first aid kit and went to get it in her car. We made small talk while they were pouring bottled water on my wounds and found out that they were a homeschool group. I told them that we homeschooled as well and that we were missionaries to Haiti on deputation. They were excited to hear about that and asked all kinds of questions. The lady came back and bandaged me up with gauze and Princess band-aids :o) Then one of the ladies said that her son had a school project  where he needed to find a missionary and pray for them on a daily basis and that he had been PRAYING to meet a missionary! She asked for a prayer card and the other ladies wanted one also. I went back to the van, told Danny about my fall and how they had helped me and wanted prayer cards. We walked back over and took them each one and the lady who's son had the project remarked that God does hear the prayers of a seven year old boy and that I must have fallen for a reason! Wow! It often amazes us the people that God puts in our path as we travel! I would appreciate prayer for my right knee as it is badly bruised and hurting worse each day since I fell last week. I am concerned that I may need to get it x-rayed when we get back to IN in a few days.

    We are now in Pell City, AL and are staying at the Bible Methodist Campground. We had a huge scare that could have been a lot worse than it was and we so thankful for God's protection! After arriving and getting settled in the cute little apt. they have us in, Danny ran into town to pick up some sandwiches for our supper. On his way back he suddenly realized that our rear passenger tire was on fire! He quickly stopped the vehicle and grabbed out our little fire extinguisher, that his mom had bought us several years ago, and was able to completely put out the fire. He called me and I called the local pastor who came out and helped him get it back here. The Don Shirk family are caretakers here on the grounds and were very nice to lend us an extra van that they have and we were able to us eit for the weekend until Danny had a chance to check out the extent of the damage. We were so thankful that it had just been him in the van and that he was able to put it out for if he had not had the fire extinguisher, we would have lost our van! We had been traveling for several hours all day and God kept us safe and allowed the fire to happen once we had arrived and were out of the vehicle.
   We did not know how bad the damage was or how it was going to be fixed or what the cost was going to be. Yet, Danny and I both felt a COMPLETE peace about it and were not worried! We knew that God had allowed it in the best of circumstances and that He has a plan. And He did! The church we spoke at, Pell City Bible Methodist, took up a love offering for us and gave us a good amount to put toward repairs. On Monday Danny took it apart and using the mechanical knowledge that he has was able to discern the problem. Basically, the wheel axle had came out of its housing and caused the fire. Once it was all bought and fixed by Danny, the whole problem only cost us a little over $100! We thank God for His protection, help and provision throughout this mini-crisis! It was a beautiful realization that God has brought us to the place that when things went wrong that we did not worry but trusted Him! He has brought us a looooong way and we are very thankful! And we KNOW that some of you were probably praying for us on February 23rd when the fire occurred and we say a huge THANK-YOU! Please keep praying for us! We VALUE your prayers!